Relational Mindfulness

Most of us in the modern world find pure silence difficult to find; yet we interact with people in some form all day long. Relational mindfulness invites us to release the illusion of separation from one another that we carry, as well as to release the divide between social interactions and our meditation practice. The field of human relationship can either be approached to support consciousness or unconsciousness. Relational mindfulness helps us to access conscious choice through the complexity human relationships rather than fall into unconscious habit. It invites us to trade in the habits of judging, hiding, efforting, positioning, projecting, performing, “other-ing,” and defending – all mechanisms of separation – for the possibility of genuine connection, transparency, healing, and freedom.

There is no separation between sitting meditation practice and our engagement with the world. In reality, sitting is the foundation of practice whose purpose is to teach us how to bring compassionate awareness to our lives. The point is to meet ordinary life and the messy, dynamic, and beautiful world in which we live with compassionate presence. Relational mindfulness helps us to explore how to bring compassionate presence to the inter-personal field: our interactions, conversations, relationships, and conflicts.

Relational mindfulness invites us to release the illusion of separation from one another that we unconsciously carry, in order to remember the intimacy and connection that we all deeply crave. Relational mindfulness helps us to remember our interconnectedness with, rather than perceived difference from, one another.

Eden offers workshops and retreats on Relational Mindfulness, and will be offering her first online course on Relational Mindfulness in spring 2018. She also has a book, Relational Mindfulness: A Handbook for Deepening Our Connection with Ourselves, Each Other, and the Planet, coming out in May 2018 with Wisdom Publications.